There are two airports in Dubai now; airport codes being DXB and DWC. The airport downtown is Dubai International Airport (DXB) is one of the busiest in the world and is the home base for Emirates Airline. You can find some very good deals on flights out here with the relatively lower fuel costs from airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air and Qatar Airlines. There is a lot of competition in the Dubai market, so this also helps keep the prices down. Dubai International Airport (DXB) has three terminals, two of which are connected by the metro and Terminal 2 is only connected by bus if you are using public transportation. Terminal 2 houses mainly budget airlines such as Fly Dubai.

I prefer to fly out of DXB Terminal 1 or 3 whenever possible because of the metro line, with trains departing often from 6am to midnight. For Terminal 2 its either bus travel or a metro ride near the airport to a bus/taxi; thankfully taxis are not very expensive in Dubai, but traffic can raise the fares considerably. For some reason the city cancelled the only bus route from main Ghubaiba bus station to Terminal 2, but other routes do exist; check a current schedule as times and routes often change here. My advice is give yourself plenty of extra time if you are planning to get to the airport (or anywhere else) by bus.

The new airport is Dubai World Central (DWC) -Al Maktoum International Airport which is around 50km west of central Dubai near the Jebel Ali area. Flights just started in October 2013 and there is an interesting mix of airlines flying out of DWC, including the Eastern European budget airline Wizz Air. The only public transportation option to this airport is Bus F55 which originates in front of the IBN Battuta metro station (the other bus stops are not very convenient unless you happen to live near one of them). If going by metro to bus to DWC keep in mind the travel times! The metro ride from Dubia's city center to IBN Battuta takes about 1 hour and then you have the bus connection. The F55 bus schedule says it takes 45 minutes to get to DWC from the stop out front of the metro station and there is only 1 bus per hour, so once again leave plenty of time! A taxi from IBN Battuta or Jebel Ali metro stations is another option. A taxi from the city center has to contend with the traffic and toll road system so is best avoided in my opinion.

Side note: At writing Wizz Air is offering flights from DWC to/from Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia or Kiev for a little over 100 euros each way! Keep on traveling!

Glad you liked the info. There are a couple more articles on the new airport including taxi fares I was charged. Have a great trip!

Reply

Reza Rg

5/29/2016 11:11:08 am

Thanks for your great info about Dubai airports.
But just another question, how much does it cost to go from DWC to IbnBattuta Metro station? I read on TripAdvisor it cost around 300 dhs, and I guess that's not true!

Reply

MattManyPlaces

5/29/2016 12:01:47 pm

The cheapest way is to go by bus and that should be less than 5 dirhams(around $1.50USD). A regular taxi cost me 60 dirhams in the past to IBN Battuta mall and a 'family taxi' minivan costed 80 dirham to same mall. 300 dhs sounds like way too much unless you are taking the taxi all the way to a downtown hotel around 45km away in heavy traffic... enjoy your trip

Hopefully they would let you stay in the gate area, as that's carpeted with plenty of chairs. I would check the flight times to the airport to make sure they stay open through the night. There were only 13 gates when I last flew out of DWC; the majority of air traffic is cargo planes.

Outside the gates, past immigration at DWC is a large open area with some shops. There are very few seats for the size of the place and the floors are tiled, so not the best for sleeping. I don't recall seeing anyone staying there overnight between flights, but I usually didn't spend a lot of time at that particular airport....

Since this post is about both Dubai airports, I would just like to add there are plenty of places to rest between long connections at DXB airport downtown and many people sleep there overnight between connections.